It appears that US President Barack Obama has implemented, or at least has not opposed or sought to block, legislation to birdcage President-elect Donald Trump on future relations with China. He has “arranged” difficulties for Trump’s future attempts to get along with Beijing.

Asia watchers are anxiously awaiting US President-elect Donald Trump’s first actions after his inauguration, in particular whether he will carry out his threat of designating China as a currency manipulator. Such a designation will allow US to institute punitive tariffs on Chinese imports.

Since Taiwan remains China’s core interest, Trump’s motive of simply using Taiwan as leverage against China could be very difficult — if not dangerous — especially if he continues to disregard the One China policy.

In mid to late December 2016, the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe established diplomatic relations with China and broke with Taiwan. The event attracted considerable media attention and evoked speculation as to its significance.

On November 30, 2016, Zhou Zhihuai, director of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that Beijing was not against establishing a new consensus to replace the “1992 consensus” while at the same time reflecting or embodying the One China principle.

Trumpism is now shaping events around the world, like the One China policy and the Russian intervention of the presidential election. The best approach is to devalue Trumpism and treat US President-elect Donald Trump as an ordinary US president.

Asia is ripe for rivalry after Donald J. Trump became US President-elect in November 2016, and the root of the ensuing conflict is the uncertainty of US commitment toward its Asian allies, which will lead to a security dilemma of two different directions.

Trump’s unexpected phone call with Taiwan’s leader, his ensuing tweets swiping at China’s currency policy and military buildup in the South China Sea and his interview on December 11 suggesting he might tear up the “one China” policy hit some of the most sensitive issues in US-China relations.

Southeast Asian countries have two serious concerns which might increase distrust between China and ASEAN, and this may become a bottleneck of the MSR construction. One is about China’s nine-dash line, and the other is whether China is undermining ASEAN’s unity.